Teachers’ Expectation of Students' Achievement as a Predictor of Motivation to Teach in Ethiopian Secondary Schools: Implication for Quality Education

Abstract

It is believed that a teacher‟s expectation of students' achievement profoundly affects teaching and learning processes in the real settings. Teachers‟ expectation influences the teachers‟ behaviors, determines their degree of career motivation and affects the subsequent students‟ achievements. The objective of this article is, therefore, to assess whether the expectation of teachers for their students‟ academic achievement can predict their motivation to teach in the Ethiopian secondary schools. Assuming that teachers of public and private schools may have different levels of expectation for their students‟ academic achievement and motivation to teach, we attempted to measure the differences. We used a mixed research design supported concurrent triangulation method to assess teachers‟ expectation for students‟ academic achievement and motivation to teach. We administered questionnaires to 368 secondary school teachers and held a focus group discussion with 20 teachers. Furthermore, we interviewed 12 teachers. Analysis of the data was carried out using descriptive statistical methods, t-tests, regression, and Cohen tests. The results offer insight that teachers have low expectation for students' academic status, which in turn associated with low motivation to teach. The formation of low expectation and the low motivation for teaching in part is accounted to the socioeconomic status of the country and the economic values of education. These patterns have a direct bearing on students' academic behaviors at school and impoverish their academic achievement. The implication is that the country ought to prioritize investing in teachers alongside physical resources and epistemological assumptions.

Keywords: Expectation; Motivation; Secondary school, Students‟ academic performance; Teachers __________________________________________________________